the sound movement

“If it takes adventures and stories to make a band, Melbourne’s “The Sound Movement” has it all.

In the summer of 2004, with the exception of their guitars and pedals, Andrew and Kat sold all everything they owned and bought one-way plane tickets for London via Tokyo with then drummer Josh. They left the country at a time when bands such as Jet and The Datsuns dominated the airwaves. Australia was more about rock, rock and more rock. “We didn’t fit in”. Although influenced by Aussie greats such as The Triffids and The Church, their brand of shimmering, UK influenced post-punk, indie shoe-gaze didn’t seem to work in their homeland where rock still heavily dominated.

They arrived in the dead cold of Japan’s winter – no money, nowhere to live, no jobs and unable to speak the language – the worst example of planning! Despite the madness, immersed in the concrete urban neon jungle of inner- city Tokyo, they continued writing and recording. Holed up in their tiny flat in central Tokyo, situated next door to a Fire Station came the songs from their first album. If you listen closely to the music at times you can sometime just hear the sirens or the “Gyoza!!!” man in a van….

Leaving Japan, they headed to the UK, the source of the musical inspiration and influences. Little did they know they were walking into the British angular post-punk guitar renaissance of 2004-2007 when bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, The Kaiser Chiefs, and Maximo Park and The Futureheads began to emerge.

Initially they settled in the cold of England’s north, Manchester.

It was the home of many of their favourite artists. It also brought with it a new type of poverty for a couple of bright eyed Australians. They finally understood Morrissey’s lyrics- “I was looking for a job and now I found a job and heaven knows I’m miserable now”. Unswayed, they dropped themselves into the local Manchester music scene. They played their first UK show at The Dry Bar in Oldham St, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter – the very same venue that launched the career of New Order. This followed shortly with shows at the Locked In Tunnel Festival alongside Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce’s (The Smiths) new band and then subsequently they were invited to showcase at Manchester In The City music festival.

Six months later they made the move to London. They launched at the Hope and Anchor – the venue Joy Division first played in London in 1976, became popular regulars at the Dublin Castle in Camden Town (Madness were the patron saints), played BBC 6 radio Club Fandango alongside The Wombats, and headlined famous venues such as Camden Barfly and Soho Borderline and The Water Rats Theatre in Kings Cross.
2006 saw The Sound Movement released through legendary Oxford label, Truck Records, and their debut UK release titled
Ichi Go Ichi E (One Meeting One Chance) hit the stores garnering the band rave reviews all round and picking up a spot on BBC6 radio’s playlist. With a new drummer, the band became popular in Liverpool and were invited to play Liverpool Music Week as part of the BBC6 radio’s best new band discoveries. Henceforth, The Sound Movement were invited north numerous times to perform at Korova – the venue owned by Ladytron, where they supported touring acts such as Asobi Seksu from NYC.

The Sound Movement continued to play across the country and became regulars on the London circuit with many amazing British bands of the day during which time they came very close to the London bombings, got saved from an Irish Gypsy attack by Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols and unwittingly rehearsed in the next studio to the legendary Buzzcocks, Stranglers and Led Zeppelin.

They were invited to play London City Showcase in the shop window of the flagship London Vans store in Carnaby St, Soho. Radio 1 favourites ‘Battle” asked them to support their London single launch at the famous venue Dingwall’s. Things were picking up again when Will Sergeant guitarist from Echo and the Bunnymen even invited them to play his “Will Sergeant Presents…” gig in Liverpool.

Just as everything seemed to be going in a right direction some unforseen events unfolded delving the band into an unscheduled hiatus. While playing their first UK festival –Truck Festival as a prelude to embarking on their own tour in support of the “Ichi Go Ichi E” album release, bass played Kat sustained serious hand injuries. Unable to play bass the band had no option and waited for her recovery. Once back on track they learned that their record label, Truck Records, went bankrupt and had gone into receivership, and all of their album stock was confiscated and impounded by the auditors. Then followed the worst of all- Andrew was attacked in King Cross by a skinhead thug (where was Glen Matlock then?!!) while trying to get home late one night, and received serious head injuries from the assault. The attack derailed The Sound Movement yet again during their most productive and lucrative period in London. For over a year the band limped on, all the while as Andrew tried to recover his health back from the attack – his speech, sight and balance were all severely affected and some real truly dark months followed.

Dealing with the freakishness of their situations, a sense of desperation and loss, and struggling with slow and painful recovery processes– it all resulted in clichéd negative manifestations in the form of depression, anger, alcohol and prescription drugs.

Dusting themselves off – through tough determination and a fierce, unwavering commitment to The Sound Movement; their desire and passion to write and perform never abated for one moment.
Kat describes this time “Somehow amongst all the pain, fear and confusion the music and creativity continued to flow “.

In 2010, The Sound Movement played Liverpool Sound City music festival for their 3rd year running and continued the studio work to conclude the “Places to See Danger” EP.
The band however, finally decided to call it quits and concentrate on getting themselves better. They performed their final London show at the Underworld in Camden as support to Shane MacGowan’s former backing band The Popes.

Andrew returned to Australia in 2011. Kat returned in 2012.

Now residing in Melbourne, The Sound Movement are excited about their new record ready for launch to an unsuspecting Australian audience who hopefully will embrace their music as favourably as the Brits making them one of the most promising and talked about indie bands on the UK scene.

“Places to See Danger” is a reflection of the bands experiences both high and low, over the last few years and delivered in all its raw, glitzy, shimmering mesmerizing glory.

“With pulsating harmonics, glass-cutter riffs, motorik rhythms and a white-hot whirlwind heart, The Last Time flows and crashes like an ocean conducted by Jason Pierce – The Sound Movement are the Bruce Lee of pop; refusing form, they adapt, build and grow – like water. Empty your mind…”

Peter Guy — The Liverpool Echo

“In their music, Marr’s classical jangle and the Roses breathy groove are married, while they also appear to have caught some quintessentially Oriental in their travels to add. All that said, patterns of their home patch shine through, where The Triffids and the Flying Nun roster get aligned with shoegazeisms as well as the darkened pop of Tears for Fears. It’s pristine, ornate and a breezy open-top thrill a particularly good indicator of the emotive power in the group”

Playlouder Magazine UK

“Dark, succulent, electro indie pop, your proverbial velvet fist. Yes, they pack a punch and it hurts real good. Based in London, The Sound Movement blend ice-cool keys with biting guitars and croonsome vocals, somewhere between Sigur Ros, The Stone Roses and The Byrd’s, w Pink Floyd and Ride on the horizon”.

Bugbear Magazine London

“Melbourne – great city; The Sound Movement – great band; It all adds up!”

Tom Robinson, BBC 6 MUSIC RADIO UK – DJ

“It’s hard to express how much we love Aussie-cum-Londonites The Sound Movement. Their savvy brew of post-punk, shoe gaze, and just plain beautiful pop is capable of casting spells. …… If only FUG IT was a label already…”